Monday 8 November 2010

Henri Riviere

I am big fan of woodcuts and the Japanese are experts of course. I recently discovered the work of french artist, Henri Riviere, who was heavily influenced by their powerful compositions.
He also painted in oils and watercolours and produced several lithographs. His restricted colour palette captures cold, wet, stormy weather perfectly .....brrrr!
As artists do, he seems to have obsessed at times - cliffs, sailing boats, the wind, tree trunks, umbrellas and something else ............. illustrated 7 times in this post. 
Some of his "Thirty Six Views of the Eiffel Tower" are a great record of life in late 19th century Paris. The tower was the tallest construction in Europe and must have made parisians feel so small with its omnipresence.

6 comments:

Lucille said...

I love the strong diagonals in all of them. Thanks for a great introduction.

rachel said...

How lovely. I especially like the big umbrellas.

Alisa said...

Love these woodcuts!

Mimich said...

Great!

Ashley INC. said...

Any idea where to find the first editions of these pages? thank you.

Anonymous said...

Oh these are wonderful. I love the idea of the subject in the title being minimized in the composition. An inspiration. I think I will do... 36 views of...something.